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Obama kicks off fall campaign with stadium show

Barack Obama launched his historic fall campaign
for the White House on Thursday with an outdoor Democratic National
Convention extravaganza that blended old-fashioned speechmaking,
Hollywood-quality stagecraft and innovative, Internet age politics.
One day after becoming the first black man to win a major party
presidential nomination, Obama readied the most important speech of
his improbable candidacy, a prime-time address to an estimated
75,000 inside Denver's NFL stadium and uncounted millions watching
at home on television.

Aides pledged a direct conversation with voters about the choice
between Obama, a 47-year-old Illinois senator, and his Republican
rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

In an audacious move, McCain worked to steal at least a portion
of the political spotlight by stoking speculation that his
selection of a vice presidential running mate was imminent. An aide
said McCain had made his decision, and one man on the short list,
Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, canceled all public appearances,
raising attention even higher.

McCain is expected to announce his pick soon and appear with the
person at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday.

Invesco Field on day four of the DNCDoug Pensinger/Getty Images

The Republican convention opens Monday in St. Paul, Minn.

To the west, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, thousands
waited in bright sunshine to gain admission to Invesco Field at
Mile High, the stadium that had been turned into Obama's soundstage
for the night at an estimated cost of $5 million.

By happenstance, the evening coincided with the 45th anniversary
of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream Speech" on the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Obama's aides were interested in a different historical parallel
- Obama was the first to deliver an outdoor convention acceptance
speech since John F. Kennedy did so at the Los Angeles Coliseum in
1960.

The list of entertainers ran to Jennifer Hudson, the Academy
Award winning performer singing the national anthem, and will.i.am,
whose Web video built around Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry
quickly went viral during last winter's primaries.

Nancy Pelosi takes the stage at Invesco FieldMark Wilson/Getty Images

In a novel bid to extend the convention's reach, Obama's
campaign decided to turn tens of thousands of partisans in the
stands into instant political organizers. The plan called for them
to use their cell phones to send text messages to friends as well
as call thousands of unregistered voters from lists developed by
the campaign.

Three hours before the day's program began, as many as 1,000
people were lined up at a pedestrian entrance to the stadium on a
hot sunny day. Nearby street parking was going for as much as $80 a
space.

In all, Obama's high command said it had identified 55 million
unregistered voters across the country, about 8.1 million of them
black, about 8 million Hispanic and 7.5 million between the ages of
18 and 24.

All are key target groups for Obama as he bids to break into the
all-white line of U.S. presidents and at the same time restore
Democrats to the White House for the first time in eight years.

The Democratic man of the hour paid a brief visit to members of
his home-state Illinois delegation before the curtain went up on
his show. "I came by (because) I had this speech tonight. I wanted
to practice it out on you guys. See if it worked on a friendly
audience," he joked.

There was no joking about the stakes in the speech, a
once-in-a-campaign opportunity to speak to millions of voters who
have yet to make up their minds between McCain and him. The polls
show a close race nationally, with more than enough key
battleground states tight enough to tip the election either way.

Obama's hopes of victory rely on holding onto the large
Democratic base states such as California, New York, Michigan and
his own Illinois, while eating into territory that voted for George
W. Bush. Ohio tops that list, and Democrats have also targeted
Montana, North Dakota, Virginia and New Mexico, among others, as
they try to expand their Electoral College map.

His new running mate, Sen., Joseph Biden of Delaware, was
brutally frank about the Democrats' chances in an appearance before
one state's delegation. "This is not hyperbole: We cannot win
without Pennsylvania," he said.

Polling shows the race for that state's 21 electoral votes
close. Both the two previous Democratic candidates, Al Gore and
John Kerry carried Pennsylvania over Bush.

Biden, who was born in Scranton, Pa., and represents a state
that shares a border with Pennsylvania, is expected to spend large
amounts of time campaigning in the state over the next several
weeks.

McCain was in Ohio as Obama spoke, and after a series of sharply
negative convention week television commercials, his campaign aired
a one-night advertisement that complimented Obama and noted the
speech occurred on the anniversary of King's famous address.

"Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often
the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop
and say, 'Congratulations,"' McCain says in the ad.

"How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic
day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight Senator, job well
done."